How to Programmatically Enable Assertions in Your Code?

What are the techniques to programmatically enable assertions in programming languages?

assert(condition)

Assertions are crucial for debugging and testing phases of software development. They allow developers to check specified conditions during execution. Enabling assertions can be done through various methods depending on the programming language and its environment.

// Example in Java
public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Enable assertions
        assert (1 + 1 == 2) : "Math failure!";
    }
}

Causes

• Assertions are disabled by default to improve performance.
• Developers often forget to enable assertions when running tests or debugging.

Solutions

• In Java, use the JVM option -ea (or -enableassertions) to enable assertions globally: java -ea YourMainClass
• In Python, assertions are enabled by default, but can be modified during execution using the assert statement, and you can control their behavior using the '-O' flag for optimization.
• In JavaScript, use `if (!condition) throw new Error('Assertion failed');` to emulate assertion checks.

Mistake: Using assertions for error handling in production code.

Solution: Use exceptions for error handling and reserve assertions for debugging checks.

Mistake: Forgetting to enable assertions during testing.

Solution: Always verify assertion settings before running test cases.